Saturday, May 20, 2017

US college tournament round-up

Fraser Davren finishesT4 in NJCAA Championship field of 105By COLIN FARQUHARSONGlaswegian freshman Fraser Davren finished a creditable joint fourth in a huge field of 105 players at the NJCAA Men's National Championship at Buffalo Dunes Golf Club, Garden City in the state of Kansas on Friday.

Davren, pictured right, a student at Eastern Florida State,shot rounds of 77, 69, 72 and 73 for a three-over-par aggregate of 291 over a 6,891yd course. But for first-round 77, the Scot might have finished runner-up to the individual winner, Ricky Sanders (Indian Hills CC) who scored 70, 73, 72 and 70 for 285 and a four-stroke win from Adam Blomme (Odessa College) (74-70-74-71).There were two other Scots in the field at Buffalo Dunes - Ben Murray from Portlethen, near Aberdeen and a student at Midland CC and Chris Finnie, a freshman from Lockerbie and a student at Odessa College, Texas.

Ben, pictured left, had rounds of 72, 83, 75 and 79 for 309 and a T49 finish.Top placings in the team event contested by 21 squads were:1166 Odessa College CC1170 Indian Hills CC1172 Eastern Florida State1183 Midlands CC1197 McLennan CCChris Finnie helped Odessa College win the title with rounds of 74, 75, 77 and 85 for 311 and a T55 finish.Chris, pictured right, had a disastrous closing round which included three double bogeys and no birdies in halves of 44 and 41. But he still played his part in Odessa's team victory with his earlier rounds.Rory Franssen makestop 20 in TennesseeUniversity of Missouri Scottish students Rory Franssen from Inverness and Euan Walker from Troon finished on 220 and 221 respectively in the NCAA College Grove Regional tournamernt at The Grove Club, College Grove, Tennessee.

Franssen, pictured right, had rounds of 73, 74 and 7 for 220 and a T17 finish over a par 72 course of 7,383yd. Rory finished 12 shots behind winner by two strokes, Dawson Armstrong (Lipscomb Univ), who had scores of 69, 65 and 74 for a total of eight-under 208 and a two-stroke victory.Walker, pictured below, scored 74, 77 and 70 (one of the best last rounds in the competition) for 221 and a T24 finish.

Texas Tech did not include freshman Sandy Scott from Nairn in their team. TEAM TOTALS863 Central Florida865 Vanderbilt and Kennesaw StateSelected totals:878 Missouri (8th of 13)883 Texas Tech (9th).David Wicks and Ryan Lumsden finish in top 20 at Baton RougeDavid Wicks (Jacksonville) from Bexhill and Ryan Lumsden (Northwestern) from London achieved top 20 finishes in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional at the University Club, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Wicks, pictured right, shot 74, 74 and 71 for three-over 219 over a 7,324yd course and finished T7 behind the all the way leader, Sam Burns (Louisiana State), 65, 72 and 75 for 212. Burns won by one shot after leading by five with a round to go.Lumsden scored 72, 73 and 76 for 221 and a 16th place finish.There were two more Englishmen in the field of 75 players.Elliot Fullalove (Jacksonville) from Kingswood finished T58 on 234 with scores of 75, 85 and 74.Jamie Mist (Jacksonville State), a senior year student from Hayling Island, scored 79, 80 and 81 for 240 and a T65 finish.